home schooling

Some families decide to home school their gifted children. School is great but it is not always a good fit for every gifted child. If you are considering home schooling your gifted children then here you will be able to find some information which may be of help. For some children home schooling can provide an ideal alternative from the regular classroom. It allows gifted children who are asynchronous, that is they are many ages at once, to follow an individually tailored curricum that can meet all of their needs. For example it can be easier to cater to a child who is at grade level for literacy, four years ahead of grade level for maths, and three years ahead of grade level in science at home than it may be at school. Additionally, some gifted children benefit greatly from a mentor who can help them research their interests in great depth. However, home schooling is a big decision for many families and the responsibility of home schooling gifted children can seem immense. If you are considering home schooling your gifted children then below you will find some great articles detailing the ins and outs of home schooling gifted children.

Gifted Homeschoolers’ Forum is based in the US but it offers some great resources worth perusing if you are considering home schooling. This brief article looks at the benefits of home schooling gifted children, and this one explores how to home school gifted children. The Center for Talent Development provides an article that explores the reasons a few families decided to home school, and how their journeys have progressed. Lisa Rivero offers some tips on getting started with home schooling gifted children, including explaining terminology such as deschooling and unschooling. And this is a great blog which looks at how it is possible to home school gifted children whilst running a business and is definitely worth a read.

Parents of highly – profoundly gifted children can find themselves home schooling either for a short period of time or for the duration of their child’s education. This article looks at the reasons why some highly gifted children may benefit from being home schooled, and Karen Morse offers further consideration of the home schooling of highly gifted children in her article Highly Gifted Children at Home.

Home schooling gifted children can feel like a daunting task but it is possible! You are not alone. On the resources and links for kids pages you’ll find a host of links that you may find useful. Additionally, if you live locally to Perth sign up with HBLN. There are so many activities available for home schooled children that you may find it hard to fit them all in!

Home Schooling Gifted Children in Perth and Western Australia:

Here, in Perth and the rest of Western Australia home schooling is considered to be a choice and no funding is provided for home schooled children. However, children are entitled to services such as dental care, subsidised travel cards, in-term swimming lessons, and, at secondary level, children are eligible for the secondary assistance scheme; for more information check out the department’s home education website. Here you will find information on the legalities of home schooling in Western Australia, including how to register. If you live locally to Perth or in any part of Western Australia you can find information on the curricum as it is implemented in schools on the Australian Curriculum website. Of course, as home schoolers you are not required to follow the curriculum letter for letter but you will be expected to demonstrate that your children are making progress in the eight learning areas, these are:

• The Arts;

• English;

• Health and Physical Education;

• Technology and Enterprise;

• Mathematics;

• Science;

• SOSE (Society and the Environment)

• LOTE (Languages Other than English)

If you decide to home school you will be provided with a home school moderator who is responsible for ensuring that your child is progressing well; moderators are allocated on the basis of your location. For further information on home schooling children in Perth and Western Australia it is worth hopping over to HBLN’s website. HBLN offers a comprehensive website that explains all of the ins and outs of home schooling in WA. It is worthwhile signing up to be a member of HBLN; they offer various discounts for home schoolers including money off at many retailers, as well as highly reduced subscription rates for online resources such as Mathletics ($22) and Spellodrome ($11), amongst other great services such as gatherings for children and subsidised courses and workshops. Additionally Mermaids and mermen holds a monthly get together for gifted home schooled children who live locally to Perth. For more information please do contact us .

Gifted and Talented Programs: 21st Dec 2015
Applications for the 2016 round of testing for WA's Gifted and Talented Programs are now open. For more information please see the Department of Education's website.
You can also find further information here: Gifted Education in Western Australia
Very best wishes to everyone sitting the test :)....

Making Friends: 16th Dec 2015 "Making friends can be hard for any child, but for socially awkward gifted children or twice-exceptional kiddos, the challenge is only multiplied. While their brains are working on overdrive, and they can have an intelligent conversation with an adult expert in the field in which they are interested, put them in...

Did you know...: 9th Nov 2015 Did you know that parents are often the most accurate identifiers of their child's giftedness? Macquarie University's Special Education Centre advise schools to:
"Take parents seriously if they ask for more challenge or for investigation of their child’s abilities. Some parents are hesitant to make the first move, so invite all...

"Your Mental Health is More Important than your Grades": 27th Oct 2015 As the frenzy of exam season arrives here in Australia, and recent research suggests that those most at risk of falling prey to exam anxiety are gifted girls, it's a good time to take stock and remember that grades are not the bee-all and end-all.
"It's no joke. A recent report from the...

Neglecting Our Brightest Students: 19th Oct 2015 "The smartest kid in class, by contrast, is not an expensive problem. A boy or girl who finishes an assignment early can be handed a book and told to read quietly while the teacher works on getting other children caught up. What would clearly be neglect if it happened to...

Giftedness: The Word That Dare Not Speak Its Name?: 27th Sep 2015
Many people, including educators and academics, state that we should not use the term 'gifted'. To be honest, there are better words that I believe suit gifted children: asynchronous, cognitively advanced, and so the list goes on! However, whilst ‘gifted’ is a loaded term, and one that is unfortunately all...